Growing Up
by RazeTora
Summary: She'd become older now. Things were different, for sure. She had to give them up. She set her treasures on the table and waited.  AU


_"Yer sellin' em, sis?"_

"Yup." I'd said resiliently, packing all my treasures into a box and hefting them to the driveway. My big sister cocked an eyebrow in interest.

"T'aint like you to go abandonin' things ya love." I sighed, putting the box on the table I'd set up in front of our house.  
>"M'not abandonin' nothing. Don't worry yourself. I gotta get rid of 'em. I got reasons."<br>"Whatever you say...Don't cause much of a ruckus, my friends are comin' over soon." Don't worry your pretty little head, sis. I just gotta open it back up and organize them in the right order.

I put up the posterboard and marker sign and set up shop.

`We'd moved from Tennessee to the suburbs when the farm started to go belly-up in the recession. It was so odd to be faced with no future. I was just gonna be like everyone else in the family, work on the farm with everyone else and eventually retire like Granny had. But Ma and Pa insisted on staying behind and trying to keep the farm stable while I went off with my siblings and Granny to a house we'd inherited from some northern relative I'd never known. I was sure my parents were very grateful for that now.

But we knew the farm was done.

My brother was crushed the most. He loved that farm. I was never too crazy about the family business, it was just something I was pitched into and had grown accustomed to (it was all I'd known, really). But he knew the city. He knew other places. He only wanted our farm.

Ma said boys don't cry. But boy did he cry.

My sister was almost as hurt. She was growing to the farm. She'd left for the city the year before she was supposed to start college and tried to acquaint herself with everything there and our fancier relatives, the less rough-and-tumble branch of the family (they were much closer to the House Inheritance Branch than us, but they graciously took her in). She'd come back a few weeks later. She knew the farm was her place. I was only a toddler then, so her absence hadn't effected me much. All I remember was we had a big party in the barn when she returned, just us. Ma, Pa, Granny, my siblings and me. It was a nice day.

Granny suffered in silence it seemed. She just rocked in her chair on the small, small porch in our new home of white picket fence lined families, looking forlorn. It was mighty depressing. That farm was her whole life, even more than my brother. It was all she'd really known, for almost seventy-two years. My poor Granny. I tried to comfort her, count the stars at night like we used to when I was tiny. She'd sit me in her lap and she'd tell me the constellations in her gentle drawl.

And me. I was left with no idea of what to do. No future. No desires. No clue of what I wanted in life. If I couldn't farm like my siblings, then what?

But I found my way. Just recently.

Sarah came first. Her hair was beautifully curled as usual, and her sketchbook was under her arm.  
>"Hello, sweetie." She said kindly. "What's this?"<br>"Nuthin', just gettin' rid of some old stuff." She read the sign.  
>"Getting rid of these? But, dear, these are your-"<br>"I know." I said, noding. She gave a small, sad smile. "I got my reasons, Sarah."  
>"I understand. Congratulations, by the way. My sister said she's so excited for you! I'm kind of hoping she follows suit soon. Poor thing can't seem to get what she's after.."<p>

My sister stomped down the stairs, rough as usual. She never shook that with the four years we'd lived here now. "Hey, Sarah! Yer early, haha! Well, yer on time, but here first is all...What's that ya got there." She sidled up to my sister, and flipped the pages of the sketchbook before her.  
>"New designs. The institute ADORED them. I might get some footing in that cramped office,<em> finally<em>. I'm so tired of fetching coffee at this internship, and don't even get me started on the audacity these snippy designers have with me!" She huffed.  
>"You'll be fine, sugar. Come on, I'm cookin' for everyone." My sister turned to leave and so did Sarah.<br>"Sarah.." I said, stopping her.  
>"Yes, dear?" I picked an item of the table and thrust it into her hands.<br>"Take this."

Diane was next. She skipped up to me and inspected the sign right away.  
>"Whooaaaa, are you for REAL?" she'd said. She crouched down next to me and inspected my wares. Not a customer in sight. Hadn't had one all day. This neighborhood was supposed to be full of kids. I didn't understand.<br>"Sales haven't been goin' well, I'm afraid."  
>"I can see that. Your whole collection's spread out here! Why the heck do you wanna get rid of them? Jeez louise! At least eBay 'em or something, the kids here will give you pennies for these, but there are some crazy people living in their basements who will throw some serious moolah at your for 'em!" She twisted her index finger and rolled her eyes to indicate craziness, then giggle. I laughed with her. She'd always cheered me up when they came over. "Ah, well, I'm sure you'll get rid of 'em. But if I were you, I'd hold onto them...But then again, you're not me." She winked. "Heard the news, kiddo. Good going!~" I smiled up at her, pride scrawled all over her face. I picked up one of the things on the table and handed it to her.<br>"Huh? What's this for?"  
>"It suits you."<br>"Ahh, I like it! I gotta go help your sister. I smell smoke, she must be cooking!" She joked.

Belle came next. She ignored the sign and wares at first, and smiled softly at me in greeting. "Hi. What're you up to?" I pointed to my sign and she widened her eyes a bit in a subdued shock. "All of them?" I nodded. "What a shame. They were such a nice addition to your room. You always looked so happy with them, too." She blushed. "Ahh, sorry." A shy grin broke onto her face. "I must sound a bit judgmental, hm? They are yours, after all. You've every right to sell them if you want to."  
>"I got my reasons." I gave her a smile back. "And it's alrigh', Belle. You only mean well." Her long, flowy skirt swept along the sign as she went around to my side of the table. She had tiny bits of fur dotting it towards the bottom, and her smell of raw vegetables followed her.<br>"Thanks for understanding...I heard the news. I'm quite impressed. But I expected nothing less from you." She smiled wider. I scrambled to fetch hers off the table.  
>"Here, Belle. This one's fer you." She looked down at it in surprise, then up at me fondly.<br>"What a kind gift."

Nia came running up the sidewalk gracefully, screeching to a halt in front of our home. She jogged in place in front of my display, surveying it.  
>"Aw, that's a shame, kid." She frowned. "Thought you loved those little powderpuffs?" I smiled. I had a friend at school idolized Nia. She did jumping jacks every day, hoping to be nearly as fit as her, the up and coming track star of the university. She was actually close to getting there.<br>"I got my reasons." I'd parroted.  
>"I'm sure you do, you're smart. As we all have heard." A wide grin came onto her face, one she wore often with pride. "Hey, I'd pop in but I know your grandma hates mud on the floors and well..." she lifted up a knee, showing a dirt-caked trainer as she jogged. "Yeah. Tell your sister I'm sorry I couldn't come today, but the scout is coming next weekend and I have to train well if I wanna be on the team! Aw, man, I'm pumped just thinking about it."<br>I took one into my hand and held it out to her. "Take this with ya." I requested. "Fer luck?" She smiled and took it after a pause, not stopping her legs.  
>"Thanks, kid."<p>

Paula came last. She held her book under her arms, rushing up the driveway. "I'm so late, auuugh! I knew I shouldn't have biked to the library today." She stopped at my table. "Hey..What's with all the..."  
>"Sellin' em. Got my reasons. Not doin' a very good job, I'm afraid."<br>"Eh, I wouldn't say so...looks like you've got a few missing here." She pointed to the empty spots where the ones I'd given away once were, now a noticeable emptiness on the table. "But, hey, judging by the recent news you're not exactly in the business area." She laughed daintily to herself, a small awkward snort peeking out towards the end. "Ohh, pardon me. Anyway, I better go before your sister gets to thinking that I've run off and abandoned everyone."  
>"Wait, wait, here," I caught her as she began to leave. "take this." She looked confused, but shrugged it off and walked into the house.<p>

My brother pulled in to the sidewalk, and climbed out of his car. He looked weary, as usual. He was so tired of his job. The summer sun set behind him as he looked over to me. His job drove him nuts, and he hated it. It was so closed and city-like. It bothered him. He needed fresh air. He missed the hard work, the grit and dirt and being able to let the sun beat on his back as he harvested our crops.

Being a stockboy for two years now was wearing him down. It was sad..

"What ya got here, darlin'?" He asked, putting on a smile for me.  
>"Sellin' em all." He looked around at the empty streets, only an occasional family van passing by going home from work to the kids and spouses.<br>"Well, I hate to break it to ya, kid, but from the looks of it ya ain't gettin' anymore customers today. Kids don't really come out 'round these parts after this time'a day...Heck, even the adults don't come out. I think they're scared'a the moon. Legend says sum evil princess from the sun'll come 'n get ya if she sees ya out too late'n shoot ya straight to the moon!" He wiggled his fingers and gritted his teeth.  
>"I ain't a kid anymore, I won't fall fer that.." He started packing away my stuff, and I pouted.<br>"Aw, now don't gimme that look. You can always try again tomorra, y'got a loooong summer ahead'a yew. You can sit in the sun sellin' these things all ya want." He hefted the box into the garage, then the table and chair I'd sat upon for hours. I had to admit, I was tired. He must have noticed, because he scooped me up into his arms. I rested my head on his tanned shoulder, his blonde hair tickling my nose.  
>"Long day at work?" I asked, drowsy.<br>"Eeeeyup. I'd say you look just as beat for someone sittin' outside sellin' these all day."  
>"T'aint fair, Mac. Business is hard."<br>"I know, sis. I know."

The five girls sat in Jackie's room, digging into the pie Diane had baked for their get-together.  
>"So, Bloom's gotten into that fancy high school. I can't believe how fast she grew up!"<br>"Me neither." Jackie sighed, taking a big piece of pie in slight depression. "I'm happy but..also kinda sad. I'd hoped we'd be back on the farm by now." Tears leaked in her eyes and down onto the plate under her. "Ma and Pa are gonna be movin' up here come next year. The farm's done, m'afraid..."  
>"I'm so sorry.." Belle said softly. She filled Jackie's glass with more milk.<br>"I sure do miss it. The sun risin' early and the cock-a-crowin'. Pickin' the apples and sittin' outside at the end of the day and countin' all them beautiful stars." Tears plopped down next to the rest of her cherry pie, and she wiped her eyes.

"But I think this is fer the best. Bloom didn't take to the farm like us. Even her accent's goin' now. This is what she wants. She found her talent. Me and Mac gotta let go of the past and find out way all over again."  
>"We'll all find our way together." Paula put a comforting arm around Jackie's shoulder. "Hey, did you see the toys she gave us?"<br>"Aw, right...her ponies." Jackie sniffed and looked at the small plastic ponies that sat next to each girl in the circle.

Diane's pink.  
>Belle's a pastel yellow.<br>Paula's purple.  
>Sarah's a gentle white.<p>

"She gave me one earlier...put it up on the shelf.." Jackie looked to her shelf, the small orange pony with the blonde mane standing proudly. "Said it reminded me of her always." She smiled sadly at the toy, then looked to her friends.  
>"M'glad she's goin' to this fancy high school. M'glad she loves writin' stories so much. My little sister's growin' up..."<p>

I sat under the covers, taking out the small light up balloon. I was much too old for this. Fourteen years! Gosh. Had it been that long? I sighed. Six of my toys were gone. I'd given them back to the people who'd inspired the adventures I'd had with them. Ma bought me all my ponies when we moved to keep her in my heart until they came back. But they were coming back soon. Cousin Braeburn would shut things up once they were gone. Try to make something of the land. And I'd gotten my mark in the world. I knew what i wanted.

But...one last time. Yes. That'd be right.

"Dang.." I blurted as the balloon fell over under the blanket. I put the small purple dragon in the basket. Twilight was gone. Given to Paula. Given to herself, in a way. Her human self. I giggled to myself at the thought. I had no clue for personalities at the time, but my sister's new city friends all inspired me. Then I got to the stories, all the stories with my pony toys. Then I got to writing in school. Then I got into submitting to the fancy high school.

And here I was.

I took another purple pony in Twilight's place for this last playtime. I'd sell them all tomorrow. I poised her outside of the balloon.

"Dear Princess Celestia..."


End file.
